New Delhi, Oct 8: They went, they destroyed and they returned. This is how the surgical strike by the Special Forces of the Indian army can be summed up. After the targets had been identified, the plan was to cross the Line of Control and destroy the targets. "We never intended to engage any of those terrorists, an officer informed.

Getting to the targets which were in a five kilometer radius was not easy. The special forces had to dodge thermal imagers and also anti personnel mines which had been laid out. However, there was not one mistake committed by the armed forces as the operation was planned to perfection.

Destroy and return

The operation was meant to be a quick one. The mission had to be accomplished in a specified time. The forces could not afford to waste anytime, the officer also noted. They crossed over the LoC, got to the targets and destroyed them. The forces had with them Russian Shmel of the flame thrower which helped in destroying the targets.

There were seven launch pads which were targeted. These launch pads were located in a five kilometer radius. The teams were split up and each of these targets were targeted simultaneously. Each of these teams took less than 15 minutes to destroy the targets. The launch pads that were hit were located at Lipa, Kel, Bhimber, Athmuqam, and Tattapani.

The special forces were told to return immediately after the objective was achieved. It was important that the forces returned to the base immediately. There is no definitive figure on the number of terrorists who were killed in this strike.

The forces were told to just hit them and return. The figures that are out in the media are based on an estimate. In each of the launch pads, there are an average of 5 terrorists. This is the basis on which the estimate was reached, officials also say.

All pumped up

The forces were pumped up and had sworn to accomplish the mission at any cost. The strike was to avenge the Uri attack in which 19 soldiers had died. Although this incident was at the back of their mind, they did not display any emotion. It was more important to get the job done and in such missions, the forces cannot let emotions stand in the way.

All of them were focused on the mission. All they said before crossing over is that they would return successful. The confidence levels were so high that they even said that they would return unhurt.

At the war room in the South Block in New Delhi, the message that was received from the forces after the operation was completed was,"mission accomplished, we have returned without a scratch."